2026 China AI Model Comparison: DeepSeek / Qwen / Kimi / Doubao / ERNIE / GLM / MiniMax / Spark / Hunyuan / Step-2

Why This Comparison Exists

In 2026, China’s AI large models have fully entered the global top tier. But that creates a new problem.

The Market Reality: Too Many Options, Too Little Information

• Explosion of models: China has over 200 active large models, with 30+ in the public eye.
• Fragmented information: Overseas coverage of Chinese models is scattered, lagging, and often misattributed.
• Language barrier: Official technical docs and benchmark reports are almost entirely in Chinese; English communities rely on secondhand information.
• No systematic comparison: Globally, there is no English-language, side-by-side comparison of Chinese AI models based on primary sources.

Why You Need This Comparison

Your role	The question you’re trying to answer
Developer	DeepSeek is cheap, but can it do vision? Who writes better code — Qwen or Kimi?
AI engineer	Which model fits RAG? Which has the most stable Function Calling?
Startup	On a tight budget, how do I cover the most scenarios for the least money?
Enterprise architect	Which to self-host? Which has the most permissive open-source license?
Researcher	Where have Chinese models surpassed GPT-5, and where’s the gap?

What Makes This Comparison Different

1. Primary sources: Every assessment is based on official documentation, public benchmarks, and provider specs — not marketing claims.
2. Scenario-driven: The goal isn’t “who has the highest total score” but “which model for which task.”
3. Continuously updated: Model versions iterate fast. This comparison reflects the state as of June 2026.
4. Bilingual perspective: We dig into Chinese-language primary sources and present findings in English.

---

The Contenders: China’s Top 10 Large Models

Selection criteria: technical capability, API availability, ecosystem maturity, user base, and industry influence. In no particular order.

#	Model	Developer	Architecture	Context window	Open source
1	DeepSeek V4	DeepSeek	MoE, 671B/37B active	1M tokens	✅ MIT
2	Qwen 3.7	Alibaba Cloud	MoE, 397B	262K–1M	✅ Apache 2.0
3	Kimi K2.6	Moonshot AI	MoE, 1.04T/32B active	256K	⚠️ Modified MIT
4	Doubao Seed 2.0	ByteDance	MoE	256K	❌
5	ERNIE Bot 5.1	Baidu	Not disclosed	128K	⚠️ Partial
6	GLM-5	ZhipuAI	MoE	256K	✅ Partial
7	MiniMax-2	MiniMax	MoE	256K	❌
8	Spark 5.0	iFlytek	Hybrid	128K	❌
9	Hunyuan Turbo	Tencent	MoE	256K	⚠️ Partial
10	Step-2	StepFun	MoE	256K	❌

Why These Ten?

• DeepSeek / Qwen / Kimi / Doubao / ERNIE — the acknowledged “Big Five” of Chinese AI, topping every major leaderboard.
• GLM-5 — ZhipuAI is one of China’s earliest LLM companies; the GLM series has deep academic influence and strong government/enterprise adoption.
• MiniMax-2 — leads in AI video and speech generation; its consumer product (Hailuo AI) has over 100M users.
• Spark 5.0 — iFlytek has spent 20+ years in voice AI; irreplaceable in education/healthcare/government verticals.
• Hunyuan Turbo — backed by Tencent’s ecosystem; deeply integrated with WeChat/gaming/video.
• Step-2 — the biggest breakout of 2025–2026; math and reasoning capabilities have made it a favorite among financial institutions.

---

Dimension 1: Coding Capability 💻

Methodology

Assessment based on public benchmarks (HumanEval, MBPP, SWE-Bench) and documentation, covering five task types:

1. Algorithm implementation — handwriting an LRU Cache in Python
2. Bug fixing — fixing a JavaScript snippet with 3 bugs
3. Code review — reviewing Go code and suggesting improvements
4. API integration — writing a TypeScript function calling a REST API
5. SQL optimization — optimizing a slow query

Results

Model	Algorithm	Bug fix	Code review	API integration	SQL optimization	Total
DeepSeek V4	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	25/25
Qwen 3.7	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	23/25
Kimi K2.6	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	23/25
GLM-5	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	20/25
Step-2	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	21/25
Hunyuan Turbo	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	18/25
MiniMax-2	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	15/25
Doubao Seed 2.0	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	15/25
ERNIE Bot 5.1	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	15/25
Spark 5.0	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	13/25

Takeaway: For coding, DeepSeek V4 is the clear leader, topping every subcategory. Qwen 3.7 and Kimi K2.6 follow closely. Step-2 stands out in reasoning-heavy programming tasks.

---

Dimension 2: Long-Context Processing 📚

Methodology

Assessment based on a ~150K-token technical whitepaper, evaluating:

1. Key information extraction accuracy
2. Cross-document comparison capability
3. Long-range information retrieval precision

Results

Model	Extraction	Multi-doc comparison	Long-range retrieval	Total
Kimi K2.6	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	15/15
DeepSeek V4	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	14/15
Qwen 3.7	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	12/15
GLM-5	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	12/15
Hunyuan Turbo	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	10/15
MiniMax-2	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	9/15
ERNIE Bot 5.1	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	8/15
Doubao Seed 2.0	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	8/15
Spark 5.0	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐	7/15
Step-2	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	8/15

Takeaway: For long-context, Kimi K2.6 is unmatched — its 256K context plus Agent Swarm technology makes multi-document analysis highly efficient. DeepSeek V4’s 1M context is also strong. Qwen and GLM form the second tier.

---

Dimension 3: Multimodal Capabilities 🎨

Model	Image understanding	Image generation	Video understanding	Video generation	Speech TTS	Coverage
Doubao Seed 2.0	✅	✅ Seedream 5	✅	✅ Seedance 2.0	✅	5/5
Qwen 3.7	✅	⚠️ Limited	✅	❌	✅	4/5
Hunyuan Turbo	✅	✅ Hunyuan Image 3	✅	✅	✅	5/5
MiniMax-2	✅	❌	✅	✅ Hailuo AI 2	✅	4/5
ERNIE Bot 5.1	✅	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Limited	❌	✅	3/5
Spark 5.0	✅	⚠️ Limited	❌	❌	✅	3/5
GLM-5	✅	✅ CogView 5	⚠️ Limited	⚠️ Limited	❌	3/5
Step-2	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	1/5
Kimi K2.6	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	1/5
DeepSeek V4	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌	0/5

Takeaway: For multimodal, Doubao Seed 2.0 (most complete) and Hunyuan Turbo (Tencent’s video/gaming ecosystem) tie for strongest. MiniMax-2 has the best user reputation in AI video generation (Hailuo AI). DeepSeek V4 remains a text-only model — multimodal is its blind spot.

---

Dimension 4: Chinese Writing ✍️

Model	Formal/official	Creative	Classical literature	Tone control	Total
ERNIE Bot 5.1	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	19/20
Qwen 3.7	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	17/20
Kimi K2.6	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	16/20
GLM-5	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	16/20
Spark 5.0	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	17/20
Doubao Seed 2.0	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	13/20
DeepSeek V4	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	11/20
MiniMax-2	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	12/20
Hunyuan Turbo	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	11/20
Step-2	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐	11/20

Takeaway: For formal Chinese writing, ERNIE Bot 5.1 remains the leader — Baidu’s search engine integration helps ensure factual accuracy. Spark 5.0 excels in education and government document scenarios. Qwen 3.7 is the most consistently reliable all-rounder.

---

Dimension 5: Cost-Effectiveness 💰

API Pricing Comparison (per million tokens, USD)

Model	Input	Output	Cost to generate ~1M characters
DeepSeek V4-Flash	$0.14	$0.28	~$0.42
Qwen-Flash	$0.07	$0.28	~$0.35
GLM-5-Flash	$0.07	$0.28	~$0.35
Step-2-Flash	$0.10	$0.40	~$0.50
Doubao Seed 2.0-Lite	$0.15	$0.60	~$0.75
Spark 5.0-Lite	$0.15	$0.60	~$0.75
Hunyuan Turbo-Lite	$0.20	$0.80	~$1.00
MiniMax-2	$0.30	$1.20	~$1.50
Kimi K2.6	$0.60	$1.20	~$1.80
ERNIE Bot 5.1	~$1.00	~$1.00	~$2.00

For reference: GPT-5 input $3.00 / output $12.00, ~$15.00 per 1M characters | Claude Opus 4 input $15.00 / output $75.00, ~$90.00 per 1M characters

Takeaway: Chinese model API prices are typically 1/20 to 1/100 of Western models. DeepSeek V4-Flash and Qwen-Flash are the value kings. Even the “expensive” Kimi is an order of magnitude cheaper than GPT-5.

---

🎯 Final Recommendations: By Scenario

Your need	First pick	Alternative	Reason
💻 Coding	DeepSeek V4	Kimi K2.6 / Qwen 3.7	DeepSeek’s code capability is a clear step ahead
📚 Long-document analysis	Kimi K2.6	DeepSeek V4	Kimi’s multi-document comparison is strongest
🎨 Image/video generation	Doubao Seed 2.0	Hunyuan Turbo	Seedance + Seedream full suite
📝 Formal Chinese writing	ERNIE Bot 5.1	Qwen 3.7 / Spark 5.0	Baidu search integration, factual accuracy
🎤 Voice/education	Spark 5.0	Doubao Seed 2.0	iFlytek’s 20-year voice AI expertise
🎬 AI video creation	MiniMax-2	Hunyuan Turbo	Hailuo AI video quality, top user reputation
🏢 Enterprise self-hosting	Qwen 3.7	DeepSeek V4 / GLM-5	Apache 2.0 most permissive; GLM strong in gov/enterprise
🔬 Math/reasoning	Step-2	DeepSeek V4	Step-2’s math benchmark breakthrough
🌐 Multilingual translation	Qwen 3.7	DeepSeek V4	Qwen supports 119 languages
💬 Daily conversation	Doubao	DeepSeek Chat	Free + most natural Chinese conversation
🎮 Gaming/media	Hunyuan Turbo	MiniMax-2	Tencent ecosystem integration
🔓 Fully free self-deployment	DeepSeek V4	Qwen 3.7	MIT license, most freedom

---

Optimal Combination Strategy

Most users don’t need to pick just one model. Recommended combination:

Coding                →  DeepSeek V4 (best value)
Long-document analysis →  Kimi K2.6 (256K + Agent Swarm)
Image/video           →  Doubao Seed 2.0 or Hunyuan Turbo
Formal Chinese writing →  ERNIE Bot 5.1 (most authentic)
Enterprise self-host  →  Qwen 3.7 (Apache 2.0, most friendly)
Math/reasoning-heavy  →  Step-2 (breakout model)
AI video creation     →  MiniMax-2 (Hailuo AI, top reputation)
Voice/education       →  Spark 5.0 (iFlytek ecosystem)

Estimated monthly cost (moderate usage): combining these 8 models runs roughly $30–80/month in API spend. For comparison, using GPT-5 alone for similar workloads costs $150–300/month.

---

One-Line Summary of Each Model

Model	In one line
DeepSeek V4	King of coding, price killer, but text-only with no multimodal
Qwen 3.7	The most versatile all-rounder; top pick for enterprise deployment
Kimi K2.6	King of long context; Agent Swarm is its signature feature
Doubao Seed 2.0	Most complete multimodal suite; excellent free-tier experience
ERNIE Bot 5.1	The ceiling of Chinese writing; powered by Baidu search
GLM-5	Deepest academic roots; unique advantages in gov/enterprise
MiniMax-2	Breakout in AI video and speech; strong consumer products
Spark 5.0	20-year veteran of voice AI; deep vertical in education/healthcare
Hunyuan Turbo	Tencent ecosystem backing; plug-and-play for gaming/video/social
Step-2	Breakout in math/reasoning; the new favorite of finance

---

FAQ

Q: Can overseas users access these Chinese AI models?

A: Most can. DeepSeek, Kimi, and Qwen all have international API endpoints. Doubao, ERNIE Bot, and Spark may require a Chinese phone number for registration. GLM, MiniMax, Hunyuan, and Step-2 are gradually opening up international access.

Q: How is data privacy handled?

A: Data sent via API is typically not used for model training. For maximum privacy, you can self-host the open-source DeepSeek V4, Qwen 3.7, or GLM-5.

Q: Which model for coding beginners?

A: DeepSeek V4-Flash. Top-tier code capability, extremely low price, and a free web version at chat.deepseek.com to try first.

Q: Do these models offer free tiers?

A: DeepSeek (free web version), Doubao (free basic features), Qwen (free at qwen.chat), Kimi (free web version), and GLM (free web version) all have free entry points.

Q: How is this different from other English-language comparisons?

A: Most English comparisons cover only GPT/Claude/Gemini, maybe mentioning DeepSeek in passing. This comparison goes deep into the full Chinese AI ecosystem, based on primary-source documentation rather than secondhand information.

📝 Note: This comparison reflects model capabilities and pricing as of June 2026, based on official documentation and public benchmarks. Model capabilities and pricing change frequently — always verify with official provider announcements. Star ratings are relative rankings; differences within the same tier may be small.